New report reveals the number of people homeless in Shropshire
The number of people recorded as homeless in Shropshire is around 462 a new report by Shelter reveals today.
Across the West Midlands the figure has reached 20,900.
In the most extensive review of its kind, the housing charity combined official rough-sleeping, temporary accommodation and social services figures, which showed the number of homeless people in the region has increased by 22% in a year. However, as government records are not definitive, the true figure of homelessness is likely to be even higher.
Shelter has launched an urgent appeal in response to the mounting crisis, calling on the public to support its frontline advisers as they work tirelessly to help people to stay in their home or find a new one.
Shelter Birmingham Hub manager, Vicky Hines said: “It’s shocking to think that today, almost 21,000 people in the West Midlands are waking up homeless. Some will have spent the night shivering on a cold pavement, others crammed into a dingy, hostel room with their children. And what is worse, many are simply unaccounted for.
“On a daily basis, we speak to people and families who are desperately trying to escape the devastating trap of homelessness. A trap that is tightening thanks to decades of failure to build enough affordable homes and the impact of welfare cuts.
“As this crisis continues to unfold, the work of our frontline advisers remains absolutely critical. We will do all we can to make sure no-one is left to fight homelessness on their own. But we cannot achieve this alone; we urgently need the public’s support to be there for everyone who needs us right now.”
The charity’s report, ‘Far from alone: Homelessness in Britain in 2017’, also shows just how hard it can be to escape homelessness amid a drought of affordable homes and welfare reforms, such as the four-year freeze on housing benefit.
Across England, over a third of people currently living in temporary accommodation will still be homeless in a year’s time.
Responding to Shelter’s report, Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s Housing spokesman, said:
“Every individual instance of homelessness is a tragedy. Councils are doing all they can to help homeless people in their communities and prevent homelessness happening in the first place.
“Homelessness is spreading across the whole country and causing a huge challenge for councils, which are having to house the equivalent of an extra secondary school’s worth of homeless children in temporary accommodation every month. The net cost for councils of funding temporary accommodation has tripled in the last three years, which is disruptive for families and unsustainable for councils.
“Councils need more resources from government to help tackle homelessness - the upcoming Autumn Budget is an opportunity to take steps to adapt welfare reforms to ensure housing remains affordable for low-income families, and allow councils to borrow to invest in building genuinely affordable homes once more.”
The figures were compiled from official statistics on temporary accommodation (as at Q2 2017) and rough sleeping (Autumn 2016).
